Hayward Baker Inc., North America's leader in geotechnical construction, was recently awarded a contract for the New Atlanta Stadium project. The new stadium, expected to open in 2017, will be the Atlanta Falcons home and will also be hosting sports, entertainment and convention events. The project includes the design and construction of Vibro Piers to support isolated column foundations and load bearing continuous wall foundations. 

Australian real estate firm Modscape unveiled the plans for a dream house concept attached to the side of a cliff. The designs are meant to show potential buyers how Modscape can create homes located near some of Australia’s coastal areas, or in this case attached to the side of a cliff. Modscape specializes in custom built sustainable modular architecture. The house is made from prefabricated pieces and is attached to the cliff by steel pins. While some might be to scared to enter the home from fears of the house falling into the ocean, former president of the Royal Insitute of British Architects Maxwell Hutchinson believes that design is structurally safe.

A new bridge project began last month in Fairfield, Vermont that uses new technology to reduce construction time, save money, and help the Vermont Transportation Agency start more projects that are backlogged across the state. The ‘Bridge in a Backpack’ technology is part of Vermont’s accelerated bridge program that incorporates quick building design and other innovations to speed up the bridge building process. The system was developed at the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center in response to Tropical Storm Irene that hit the region several years ago. Vermont engineers found themselves unable to quickly repair or replace the many bridges that were damaged by the storm. Rather than taking months to complete a bridge using conventional methods, the ‘Bridge in a Backpack’ technology allows a new bridge to be finished in weeks.

Shatin to Central Link (SCL) is a major infrastructure investment currently under construction in Hong Kong and aims in connecting a number of existing railway lines passing through different districts of the island. The line passes through already developed urban areas, encountering different topography and geology conditions, which require not only the application of different construction methods, but the use of different types of the same equipment as explained by two of the leading companies in the tunneling construction industry, having undertaken the construction of specific tunnel sections. 

Measurand's ShapeAccelArray instrumentation system is used in the case of the structural monitoring of the Mactaquac Dam Generating Station, located in Keswick Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada. Alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR) has led to concrete expansion and the observation of substantial deformation at the Dam. 

An earthquake-detection system developed by the University of California Berkeley’s Seismological Laboratory performed well during the recent earthquake that struck the Napa Valley region on August 24. The system was able to produce a warning message 10 seconds before the magnitude-6 temblor struck. "It was definitely a great proof-positive that the system works just like we'd hoped," says Jennifer Strauss, the lab's external relations officer. "One of the things the Napa quake did show us is you need to make sure there are enough sensors," says Strauss. One member of the lab even stated the warning could have gone out 2.5 seconds earlier had the lab received more funding to install more sensors in the area. California unanimously passed a bill last year that would create a state-wide early detection system. Funding for such project, however, has yet to be found.

This past summer, a step forward was taken for the realization of the Trans-Afghan natural gas pipeline project, also known as TAPI. TAPI is an ambitious $7.5 billion project, that aims in trasferring natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. Even though it has to overcome many obstacles due to the unstable political and economic conditions in the involved countries, TAPI can have major geopolitical effects in the area.